Jigsaw Meeting Review: Solving the Web Conferencing Puzzle?

If you’re going to compete in the big boy world of web conferencing software, you’ve got to be able to bring something special and unique to the table. Some pieces of software like to give you a lot away for free as a way of making up for some ground. Others are able to make the sales pitch that they’re so popular, you know your clients will have the same meeting software too.

So if that’s the case, what exactly is Jigsaw Meeting‘s big sales pitch?

Price? Well, it’s not anything all that spectacular: $49/month for 25 attendees is a good value but won’t knock it out of the park, and certainly isn’t as nice as “0-10 attendees for free.”

How about Jigsaw Meeting’s features? They’re nice, but nothing out of the ordinary in our world of quality web conferencing and therefore high web conferencing standards.

This Jigsaw Meeting review is willing to give the software a fair shake, however, and see if there really is something unique upon which they can build a niche. Because if they want reviewers like me to hawk their product, they’ve got to have at least one element with the wow factor. And as I look at the software, I see a quality product – but I don’t say “wow.” Here’s why.

Credit Where Credit is Due

Now if that seemed like a particularly harsh for what is otherwise a perfectly fine piece of software and, heck, even a pretty good value for the price, then there’s a reason for that: Jigsaw Meeting is not exactly the Michael Jordan of web conferencing software. Heck, it’s not even the GoToMeeting of web conferencing software, in that it’s not what you expect many of your clients, colleagues, or employees to have already installed on their machines.

That means trouble if you’ve got ground to make up. Some other web conferencing programs, like Fuze Meeting are able to knock you out with the entire package: price, quality, and overall experience. Others will give you a lot of their services for free, thus knocking you over with the temptation to say “screw it” to the other pieces of software and simply embrace what’s cheap and good in this web conferencing world of ours.

Exploring Wow and Other Factors

All of that is a fancy way of saying that Jigsaw has to have the aforementioned wow! factor if i’m going to give it a recommendation at all, let alone a glowing recommendation. But let’s take a look at many of the variables the web-savvy Clickfire audience has come to know about web conferencing software, variables like:

Pricing structure: simple, cheap?

Interface: confusing or downright easy?

Features: is this an actual online business meeting or just a Skype chat?

When it comes to all of those factors, I have to give credit where credit is due: Jigsaw meeting delivers. The aforementioned price is reasonable at the typical-industry rate of $49/month (and, by the way, how did that happen? Did all of the web conferencing programs hold a council on GoToMeeting where everyone agreed to charge the same basic price?), and allows quality video chat along with easy-save options to keep things recorded.

But overall, Jigsaw isn’t exactly the “revolutionary online meeting system” that it promises to me. And in my book, making a big claim like that means that I’m going to review you based on that standard. Hence the three out of five stars.

But since this section is about the good, we have to give it to Jigsaw: their free trial account yields a plethora of options in the web conferencing world, and there’s no denying that Jigsaw Meeting really makes for a good, smooth experience once you’re up and running. Whether you’ll want to get up and running with Jigsaw is another issue entirely.

Jigsaw Meeting: For You?

The question is rhetorical, of course, since you can’t actually answer unless you leave a comment, at which point this review will already be completed. But let’s talk about this question. What does the Clickfire audience need in a web conferencing software?

Again, I hold Jigsaw Meeting up to lofty standards because there aren’t only a lot of web conferencing programs out there, but we’ve reviewed a good nine or ten of them here at Clickfire already. I’m not going to recommend Jigsaw Meeting to you unless they can break out of the traditional “whiteboard” barrier of most online conferencing programs and skip straight to my heart with some pretty neat features.

Jigsaw is a good value and not a bad decision, but that’s not enough for me to recommend it over the other programs you’ve read about here at CF.

What constitutes a good value? In the web conferencing world, it’s often what you get at $45/month. And with up to 25 attendees in your meeting, which is actually pretty high, Jigsaw does deliver on the basic value premise.

So What Do We Recommend?

It depends on what you’re interested in. GoToMeeting has the popularity, the features, and a relatively “average” pricing structure that won’t break the bank. Mikogo has the best price offering: free for up to 10 total meeting attendees. And Fuze Meeting is our pick for overall functionality and features for the price. Where does that leave Jigsaw Meeting?

At three out of five stars, unfortunately. And it might seem a bit cruel to rate a perfectly good piece of software that low, but the truth is many people who end up skimming the web conferencing reviews at Clickfire will just look at that rating to gleam their recommendation.

And I just can’t submit Jigsaw Meeting as the “Clickfire Choice” for you. If you disagree, that’s fine, but there’s a good chance you also work for Jigsaw. So I’m onto you.

You won’t steer dreadfully wrong by downloading Jigsaw Meeting, and definitely won’t steer wrong by downloading the free trial and giving it a whirl yourself. But if you want a total solution for your web conferencing needs, there are other places to be wowed. Sorry, Jigsaw Meeting.

1 comment

Mike Roger

Jigsaw meeting is a good conferencing tool. Additionally, one may even use WebEx, gomeetnow, gotomeeting, etc. webinar tools. Another option is deploying on premise RHUB web conferencing appliances in order to conduct webinars, web conferences, online meetings, online presentations etc.